February 27, (THEWILL) – The Cross River State chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has accused the Federal Government, led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, of making life difficult for Nigerians.
Gregory Olayi, the Cross River State Chairman of the NLC, stated this on Tuesday, during a protest against the economic hardship in the country.
The protesters, who hit the streets of Calabar, displayed placards with different inscriptions such as “Our take-home pay must take us home”, “Let the poor breathe”, “We can no longer feed our families”, and “Nigeria is dying, Tinubu this was not what you promised us” amongst others, and marched to the Cross River State House of Assembly Complex.
Speaking at the State House of Assembly complex, Comrade Olayi stated that, as workers, they could no longer pay their transport fare to work because of President Tinubu’s obnoxious policies.
Olayi lamented that a cup of garri is now being sold for N250 while the state has not been able to implement the last minimum wage for civil servants to date.
“Workers in Cross River State can no longer pay transport to the office because of obnoxious policies; policies that are not human friendly.
“When the Federal Government took over power, they started with policies that were very detrimental to the people. Labour raised eyebrows but the government refused to listen.
“The price of fuel, as of today in Cross River, the least we saw on our way here was N660.00 and workers who have motorbikes can no longer fuel them.
“The price of goods in the market has drastically increased. Today, a cup of garri is sold for N250, Dollar is N1900 and when you go to buy garri, they will tell you Dollar has increased, we don’t know if they are using Dollars to buy garri in the market.
“This is the reality in Nigeria and Cross River is one of the states that didn’t pay the last minimum wage to workers and it is unfortunate that we find ourselves in this state. The take-home cannot be used to get anything from the market,” he said.
Reacting, Speaker of the Cross River State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Elvert Ayambem, said the House leadership no doubt feels the pains of the workers, stressing that the legislators would convey the message to the appropriate authority.
About the Author
THEWILL Correspondent, Aniekan Bassey has over six years experience that spans across several fields in print journalism including development communication, sexual reproductive and health rights issues, crime, climate change, social justice, business and human interest stories.
